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World Cup final ball sold to Spanish fans

The football used in the FIFA World Cup final 2010 in South Africa was sold for £48,200 in an online auction.

The ball made by Adidas was one of those used in the final between Spain and Holland played in Johannesburg.

A total of 133 bids were placed from 55 international bidders, a spokesman for ebay said.

Though it was not known who bought the ball, Adidas later said a group of Spanish fans made the highest bid.

Dutch priest suspended over orange mass for World Cup

A priest in the Netherlands has been suspended for holding a special orange-themed mass in support of the national football team before the World Cup final between his country and Spain last week.

The Bishop of Haarlem says Reverend Paul Vlaar had not paid sufficient respect to the sacred nature of the Eucharist, said a BBC report on the ABC website.

For last Sunday’s mass, his priestly robe was orange and he decked out his church with orange flags and orange flowers.

However, the Dutch lost 1-0 to Spain and now all Reverend Vlaar has got for his efforts is what his Bishop called a period of contemplation, the report said.

Howard Webb should be applauded for a job well done under difficult circumstances

Dutch criticism of the refereeing performance of Howard Webb in Sunday’s World Cup Final is a blatant and poor effort to cover up their own shortfalls and spoiling tactics.

Webb, as always, refereed the game as he saw it and he could easily have issued more than the one red card, to go with the 14 yellows.

Webb, who is 39 today, thanked English fans for supporting him and assistants Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey.

Speaking outside his home in Rotherham, he said: “It was an amazing experience out there and I am obviously thrilled and delighted to be appointed for the final game.

“It turned out to be a tough game but we came home with a real sense of achievement. We are looking forward to spending some time with our families and recharging for the season ahead.

“I’m pleased to have been involved in a wonderful event. Thanks for the support of the English people. The English media has been absolutely fantastic.”

Webb received death threats from Dutch fans after Spain won Sunday’s Johannesburg clash 1-0 in extra time.

But ex-Holland star Arnold Muhren, 59, backed him, saying: “I felt sorry for the referee because it was a very physical game, more from the Dutch than the Spanish. I didn’t think Howard Webb was the reason that Holland didn’t win.”

The FA also leapt to Webb’s defence. Jonathan Hall, of the Match Officials Board, said it was a ‘very well-handled final in very difficult circumstances’.

According to FIFA’s rankings 2010 was the worst World Cup ever for England

England have never performed as poorly at a World Cup finals as they did in South Africa.

It was already obvious Fabio Capello’s men would be rated somewhere between ninth and 16th given they were beaten by Germany in the first knock-out stage. And, in their assessment of England’s performances, FIFA are reported to have rated them only 13th.

That is two places worse than their previous lowest mark, in 1958, when, shorn of Duncan Edwards and Tommy Taylor following the Munich air crash, England finished 11th.

It just emphasises how far short of Fabio Capello’s pre-tournament expectations the Three Lions fell.

When England left for South Africa at the beginning of last month, Capello claimed his side could reach the final.

In the end, it was Spain and Holland who contested Sunday night’s showpiece in Sun City, England having long since departed for home.

England’s demise is still a mystery to many, including it seems, FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who could shed no light on the failure either.

Asked why England had performed badly in the tournament, Blatter said: “You will have to ask the Football Association.

“England is considered as being the motherland of football, as Brazil is the heartbeat of football, but there are no small national teams any more.

“There are small countries but their national teams are very strong as football has developed.”

The best team won, concedes Dutch boss Bert van Marwijk

Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk was humble in defeat and glossed over player protests about referee Howard Webb who brandished a World Cup Final record 14 yellow cards – and one red.

After Spain’s 1-0 win, Dirk Kuyt and others in the Dutch camp claim English ref Webb favoured the Spanish, but the Holland coach said: “I don’t think the referee controlled the match well. But let me be clear about this: the best team won the match.

“I’m trying to analyse the match as best as possible. But I read a few things about how angry Spain were at the refereeing in the first match against Switzerland.

“If you view the performance (of the referee) today, you’d almost think now that that first match had an influence on this game now.”

Van Marwijk admitted some fouls had been ‘terrible’ but said both sides were responsible, although challenges by Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel were particularly X-rated.

He added: “It’s not our style. Let me put it this way, it’s not our style to commit horrible fouls. It’s not our kind of football.

“It was a World Cup final and people were tense. Look at the rest of the tournament. I think both sides, also the Spaniards, committed terrible fouls.

“I’m on the bench and I haven’t seen any replays. I’d have to see the replays. The way I saw it from the bench was very different.”

Van Marwijk said the Dutch had done well to reach the final and could have won it. He continued: “No-one expected us to be here, in the final. We came very close to a penalty shoot-out. We could even have scored through Robben.

“Whether we would have deserved that, I don’t know. But it’s a final. It’s very disappointing. You want to win it, and we might have done. I think we performed really, really well to get this far.”

He added: “It was still our intention to play beautiful football, but we were facing a very good opponent.

“Spain are the best footballing country in the past few years, so we needed to have a top day to beat them.

“We did a good job tactically on them. We got into good positions at times. Both sides committed fouls. That may be regrettable for a final. It’s not our style, but you play a match to win.

“It’s a World Cup final, and there’s a lot of emotion out there. You saw that with both teams. I’d loved to have won that match, even with not so beautiful football.”

Sneijder, an almost perfect year

A perfect season. Or an almost perfect one. Wesley Sneijder won the Serie A title, the Coppa Italia, the Champions League and he is going to marry his girlfriend. But the FC Internazionale star ended all losing the World Cup final. “We had our chances,” he was quoted. “We were so close to our first World Cup victory and so we are really sad. It will be hard to think about this night, because it’s a very sad feeling. But we must be proud of ourselves. We played an amazing World Cup and we will be happy with our supporters anyway. I think we faced the best team. Sneijder scored 5 goals but he wasn’t elected best player of the tournament (Diego Forlan has been chosen) and he wasn’t the top-scorer. German Thomas Mueller won it instead, because he scored 5 goals and made two assists more than the Dutchman.

Spain’s Route To The Final

Group Stages

Spain 0 – Switzerland 1

Just when we all thought Spain’s years of under achievement were over they shockingly began with a defeat to Switzerland thanks to a scrappy goal from Fernandez.

                Not that the Spanish did not create enough chances to alter the score. Despite spoilt with attacking options Spain failed to break down their stubborn opponents.

Spain 2 – Honduras 0

Suddenly after everyone hyping them up in the build up to the competition Spain found themselves in a must win situation. Luckily for the Spanish Honduras never had the belief or ambition to take advantage of Spain’s sudden loss of form.

                A comfortable win but still not looking like the side that lit up Euro 2008. Only David Villa (Scorer of both goals), out of Spain’s so called star players played to his true potential.

Spain 2 – Chile 1

Spain needed to win to guarantee progression while Chile only required a point. It did not stop the South Americans from showing the rest of the world that you can get at Spain’s defence. Chile were on top before a goal keeping mistake gifted an open goal which David Villa spectacularly took advantage of from nearly 40 yards out. That strike and a later red card knocked the stuffing out of Chile.

                With 20 minutes to go and the score line at 2 – 1, knowing it was 0 – 0 between Switzerland and Honduras both sides were happy to see out the game. Chile were just delighted to have qualified, Spain crucially knew that finishing top of group H meant that they would avoid Brazil.

Last 16

Spain 1 – Portugal 0

Despite boasting Christiano Ronaldo Portugal made the mistake of being too negative as yet again another game at the 2010 World Cup failed to live up to expectations.

                Spain having a natural goal scorer in the shape of David Vila (Who scored with 8 minutes remaining) proved to be the difference between the two sides.

Quarter Finals

Spain 1 – Paraguay 0

Spain took a large step in silencing the claims of them being World Cup underachievers by finally winning their first ever World Cup quarter final. Not that they didn’t make it hard work against a spirited Paraguay side. The South Americans more than held their own in the first half but when they had a second half penalty saved you sensed that they knew they had wasted their golden opportunity. Seconds later Xabi Alonso also failed from the penalty spot. However David Villa yet again proved to be the hero. Just like against Portugal Villa’s strike came in the last 10 minutes.

                Worryingly for the rest, Spain had reached the Semi finals without playing well.

Semi Finals

Spain 1 – Germany 0

So Spain had not played with the attacking style that many assumed they would. Ironically Germany who many had written off due to having such a young squad were playing the most attractive football of all the 32 teams in South Africa.

                The likes of Fernando Torres (yet to score in the competition) and Cesc Fabregas (struggling to get into the starting line up) were left on the bench as Barcelona’s next breakout star Pedro was chosen to partner David Villa.

                Having such a large Barcelona presence in the first 11 worked to Spain’s advantage as they played just like the Catalan giants. By far this was Spain’s most impressive performance of the World Cup; out passing the German’s who struggled to get possession of the ball. Despite their dominance though Spain had to wait yet again late in the game for the break through. This time though it was not David Villa but a header from Carles Puyol.

Holland’s Route To The Final

Group Stages

Holland 2 – Denmark 0

As usual there was a sense of expectation when it was Holland’s time to come out and play in South Africa. However even the world renowned playing beautiful football Dutch failed to light up the slow to get going World Cup.

                In the first half Holland were contained by a well organised Denmark. Unforotunalty for the Dane’s all their hard work was undone seconds into the 2^nd half by a comical Daniel Agger own goal.

                The build up to Dirk Kuyt’s tap in, in the closing stages had a bit more of a Holland feel about it.

Holland 1 – Japan 0

Holland made it two wins out of two but criticism was rising from the likes of Johan Cruyff that Holland were not winning with “total football”.

                Again after quiet first half Holland benefitted from a second half mistake. While Sneijder’s shot possessed plenty of pace and power it was an effort the Japanese keeper should have kept out. It was just a sign of the things to come from Sneijder.

Holland 2 - Cameroon 1

Holland were guaranteed qualification, while Cameroon were the first team to be officially eliminated from the competition. This did not stop the Africans from being the first side to score against the Dutch and with 9 minutes remaining threatening to become the first team to take any points off of the men in orange. Step forward Arjen Robben to prove his fitness (he had missed Holland’s opening two games) with a shot against the post which set up John Heitinga’s winner.

Last 16

Holland 2 – Slovakia 1

On paper playing World Cup virgins Slovakia was a fairly routine route to the quarter finals and so it proved to be. Maybe more importantly to Dutch fans it proved to be the moment that Arjen Robben’s campaign began to explode into life. A big doubt before the tournament Robben showed just why Holland officials were willing to give him as long as he needed to recover from injury. Robben scored with a trade mark goal cutting in from the right hand side.

Quarter Final

Holland 2 - Brazil 1

There were high hopes that these two footballing nations renowned for beautiful attacking football were going to light up the World Cup.

                Holland playing for the first time in the tournament as under dogs showed too much respect to the 5 time World Champions with Brazil 1- 0 up inside 10 minutes. Uncharacteristically for a Brazilian side Dunga’s men sat back on their lead. Holland  did not appear to have the self belief in the final third until Sneijder’s cross went in off a Brazilian head (for some reason this has still been credited as one of Sneijder’s 5 goals). If Sneijder’s first strike had an element of luck about it there was nothing wrong with his second, incredibly the first time Sneijder has scored with his head.

Semi Finals

Holland 3 – Uruguay 2

For a semi final the draw could have worked out a lot worse for Holland. Favourites against surprise package Uruguay Holland were being compared to the finalists of 1974 and 1978 (and in some quarters not favourably).

                The pressure of the occasion seemed to affect the Dutch before captain Giovanni Van Bronckhorst threw up the romantic possibility of the last game of his career being a World Cup final. Diego Forlan levelled with an equally spectacular long distance strike. Uruguay then made the mistake of sitting back and letting Holland dictate the second half. In the space of three minutes, two moments of inspiration from two of Holland’s best players turned South Africa orange, a goal from Sneijer (with Van persie’s foot suspiciously looking offside) and a header from Robben put Holland into their first World Cup final since 1978.

Holland’s biggest name but not their biggest fan.

Everyone knows a certain old man or woman who likes to reminisce how everything was good in their day. Whatever our generation achieves, their generation it seems did it better.  Football apparently is no different, this week while the whole of Holland have been celebrating their success of getting to a World Cup final, Johan Cruyff, ironically one of the most adored sports men and the man every Dutch man and woman look up to has claimed that Holland do not deserve to triumph in Africa, in a matter of fact Cruyff fells so strongly against how the 2010 Holland team play he wants Spain to be champions. Cruyff is quick to explain that he is not trying to alienate himself from his country but is simply a fan of beautiful Football and apparently admires the Spanish style of play.

This is not the first time that Johan Cruyff has been critical of the Dutch in the past month. He has criticized Van Marwijk for not sticking to Holland’s values of playing a beautiful game. While no one can argue Holland have not been overly exciting to watch, which team has at this World Cup? As greater footballer as Cruyff was I think he is the one who is showing naivety not Van Marwijk. Van Marwijk has realised how the game has  evolved over the last few years, how frustratingly  more teams these days set up defensively, he’s recognised that  the days of playing all out attacking football, does not win you trophies anymore. He has been wise enough to choose two defensive mid fielders to do the “dirty work” and tell Sneijder, Robben and Van Persie to then go and win the game with their flair. More importantly he has become frustrated, as we all have of how many Dutch teams you can count over the last few decades who have wowed us with (Cruyff’s favourite word) “total football”  without any silverware to show for it. If Holland beat Spain tomorrow night do you think you will find anyone in Amsterdam who will care one little bit that they did not do it beautifully. Maybe that is what is really bothering Cruyff.

Cruyff, and rightfully so is viewed as one of the all time greats for his contributions in the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals, Cruyff’s performances in the orange shirt have made him a legend in the game, which no one will ever be able to take away from him. Legends/ heroes come out at the start of every world Cup and European Championships, as well as when their national team is under achieving to give their views and opinions. A high percentage work in some capacity with the media, radio, television and of course news papers. What I am trying to say is someone like Cruyff makes a lot of money for himself by putting himself forward to talk about Holland’s World Cup chances. Here is my theory. Could it be possible that Cruyff is threatened that this time next week he will not be referred to as Holland’s most successful World Cup performer. Obviously it is not a money issue for Cruyff; it’s that world renowned large Dutch ego. My comments may be controversial and disrespectful to one of the all time greats but when you look at some of his comments you can’t help but sense a bit of envy. For example take his earlier statement about admiring Spain because they play the game in the right way. Here is the actual truth, Spain have scored a total of 7 goals in the tournament compared to Holland’s 12, only Germany have scored more. Then there is Cruyff’s theory that Holland has had an easy route to the final. Didn’t Holland beat that little nation called Brazil? You know Mr Cruyff the team who has won the World Cup more than anyone else, the team who a month ago was labelled second favourites to win the whole thing.

If you didn’t know anything about football and just listened to Cruyff’s comments you would have never guessed that he was one of Holland’s own. It’s a shame, a shame because so many of the players look up to him, a shame because knowing of this comments Van Marwijk still speaks fondly of him and is still happy to take his advice.

Holland’s players have shown their respect to Johan Cruyff and his achievement of getting to a World Cup final, don’t they deserve exactly the same.

Holland V Spain Betting Odds + Tips

What a World Cup Final! Two European teams who have never won a World Cup.
The Holland v Spain World Cup Final looks set to be a great match.

The Holland v Spain Odds have Spain as the favourites, no surprise there. But don’t be expecting a high scoring game. Four out of the last five World Cup finals have had under 2.5goals. So, with five clean sheets in those five finals out of a possible ten clean sheets it looks likely that at least one team will keep a clean sheet. Spain are more than likely to keep a clean sheet. They should win this game 1-0, after having won their last three games 1-0. Back Spain to win 1-0.

Both Villa and Sneijder have five goals, and both know that one goal will probably win them the Golden Boot. Based on his performance so far in the World Cup, Villa is most likely to score. Back David Villa to be the first to score in this game.

For all full list of World Cup Final Betting Tips , Click here.

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